Hinge



P. J. MQMENAMIN.

(No Model.)

HINGE.

No. 676,737. Patented Feb.- 9, 18-97.

77 Mad p14 /ZW UNITED STATES- PATnN-T OFFICE.

FRANCIS JJMOMENAMIN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

HINGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 576,737, dated February 9, 1897.

Application filed May 26, 1896. Serial No. 593,168. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS J. MOMENA- MIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hinges, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of the specification.

My invent-ion has relation to certain improvements in hinges, and more especially in the construction of hinges employed in connection with folding writing-desks of that class in which a hinged cover or closing panel forms, when opened, a writing-table.

The principal object of my invention is to so construct the hinge that it will serve as an additional support for the folding panel when the latter is open and in use, and a further object of the invention is to so construct the hinge that it may be placed in position without mortising or recessing the woodwork to receive it and at the same time preserve a close joint between the stationary part of the desk and the hinged closing panel when in both the open and the closed positions.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a desk-hinge constructed in accordanc with my invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation showing the hinge in the closed position attached to portions of a desk structure, and Fig. 3 is asimilar view showing the same in the open position.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the stationary table portion of a desk or other structure, and B a panel hinged thereto in such manner that when in the position illustrated in Fig. 2 it acts as a closure for the desk and when in the position illustrated in Fig. 3 forms a writing-table. This class of desk is one which is well known andis merely used as an example in the present instance, as the construction of hinge forming the subject of the invention may be employed in various other structures.

The two panels 'or leaves 0 O of the hinge are attached, respectively, to portions of the desk by screws d, passing through longitudinal slots 6, arranged in the hinge-leaves for the purpose of adjusting the hinge after the screws have been inserted through the slots into the woodwork, the length of the slots be ing sufficient to permit of the limited movement of the leaves, so that they may be adj usted to the proper positions and firmly secured in position by turning the screws very tightly to bind the leaves on the surface of the wood.

The center of the pivot-pin c, which unites the leaves together, is, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, in the same plane as the under surfaces of the hinge-leaves, the line of the woodwork at points between the hinges being shown by dotted'lines in said figures, so that whether in an open or closed position the sections which are united together will be in close contact with each other and no cracks be left through which papers might pass. 1 It will be seen that the leaves of the hinge may be attached to the surfaces of the desk-section, the only portion of the latter which it is necessar to cut away being the small area shown bydotted lines to accommodate the curved meeting edges of the leaves which surround the pivot-pin. 7

Each section of the hinge has secured to it a projecting ear g, to which are pivoted arms H H, connected together by a pivot-pin t', which when the hinge is open is in the same vertical plane as the pivot-pin c of the two leaves. Each arm H H has a fiat face 71, adapted to come into contact with the surface of the hinge-leaf to which itis attached when the hinge is in the open position, and has also a flat abutting face h, the two fiat faces 72/ moving toward each other on the lines indicated by the arrows on Fig.3 and coming into intimate contact when the hinge assumes the open position, and when these abutting faces have moved into contact with each other it is impossible to open the hinge any farther or bend it backward without breaking some of the pivot-pins, and the panel B may thus support considerable extra weight without the addition of any strain on the pivot-pin of the hinge-leaves.

WVhen the hinge assumes the closed position, the arms H H will readily separate and assume the position shown in Fig. 2, and when moved to the open position the surfaces h it, coming into contact, will make any further movement impossible.

Having thus described m'yinvention', what which said leaves are pivoted, and auxiliary arms H, H, pivoted to the respective leaves and to each other, said arms having abutting faces h formed at their endsat a point above their mutual connecting-pivot and adapted to come into contact with each other when the hinge-leaves are opened fiat, substantially as specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 14th day of May, A. D. 1806.

FRANCIS J. MCMENAMIN. lVitnesses:

.TNo. E. PARKER, HORACE PE'ITI'I. 

